How To Keep The Faith
by CLMScagliotti
Summary: When love is lost, and loss oe'rtakes me, the rules of love, then are hidden, and chaos rules and order lost, and hidden then, my heart, from love. When Claudia Donovan had first studied this words, she was looking for Joshua. But along with her brother, she found so much more. Now she gets to study the hidden rules of the most different kinds of love. Clinks
1. Chapter 1: Undercover Again

**A/N: So, this is the first time I'm posting one of my storys. Means: Reviews and polite critic welcome. About the story itself, how I wrote the characters, or just my grammar. (I'll apologize for that right now, because I'm from Germany...) . Questions and Requests via PM please. Hope you like it **

Chapter 1: Undercover Again

Claudia didn't know whether she loved or hated this case. She and Steve were in Nashville, because they got a ping that leaded to a music contest in town. Against her will, Steve and Artie had decided she should go undercover as a singer. She loved singing. She even sang at open mic in Univille whenever she could. Claudia also loved undercover investigations, as long as she is undercover and can still talk to her team. She shot a glance to her partner, who was standing beside her, holding the Farnsworth. She couldn't bear losing him like that again. "Just don't get yourself killed."

She heard Artie bark. The younger agent gulped. "We'll try as best as we can! Not our first case, old grumpy-master!" She needed a second to realize how she was talking. Claudia was angry. Not really because of Artie. Not this time at least. But right now she was hung up to the memories of Jinks' last undercover assigment. How she found him. How she lost him. That day, it had felt like she lost an important and part of herself, a great piece of her heart.

The tech genius took a breath in, listening to her heart beat, making sure she was still alive. She looked to her best friend, listening to his breath, watching his eyes open and close, making sure he was still alive. It seemed she was staring, because Steve sent her a worried expression.

"You allright, Claude?" he asked quietly, not to shock her out of the trance she seemed to be in.

"Yeah, I'm fine dude. Just ...', she thought about it a moment. She was what? Hung up on depressing memories? That would just worry him even more. "Just spaced out a sec."

She then answered quickly. He raised on his eyebrow. Claudia wondered if his lie detector had pinged. She wasn't really lying, was she? Then she realized that the Farnsworth was closed. How long had she been thinking? Well, she guessed it could take a while to memorize the worst time in her memory.

When she lost her parents and Claire, she was too young. She could barely remember them. In all the years without her brother, she had hoped that he was still there. She had felt terribly alone, but losing Jinksy had made her her thoughtful. He had died for her. He had even said it. All that Steve went through, he had went through it for Claudia. He saved her life. Propably all of their lifes. Sadly he couldn't save her heart, because he couldn't save himself. But she did. Claudia smiled. Yes, she had gotten into trouble at first, but it wasn't the first time she didn't do as told. But never before she was so sure of this: It was totally worth it. He was worth it. There was no risk she wouldn't have taken to get him back.

Sometimes she would silently think about how it would be if he wasn't „just" her best friend. Her gay best friend, she had to remember herself. She had to remind herself about this so often. He didn't look gay. Not at all. She had to admit that there even was the one or other thing about him that she liked. About his calm character, but also about how he looked like.

Claudia quickly shook her head. No, not that thought again! At least not now. Now they were working. They had to finish their case. There were people dying out there! Something about deep depressions and drugs. Not that this was anything new to the Nashville-Music-Scene…

„Well, then let's check you in rockstar." Her best friend said, obviously trying to reassure his young partner. The redhead just nodded, still a bit absent. Steve started to walk towards the table, where a young blonde woman was sitting. Suddenly Claudia grabbed her partners wrist. „No! I… I can't do this! I mean… there are so many people an-and… Maybe I am barely good enough for a couple of fools in the Badlands of South Dakota! If I have to go out… out there I will lose consciousness! I will stop breathing and fall to the floor! Besides, let's not forget that there is an artifact involved!", she stuttered nervously.

Steve turned around, seeing the panic in Claudias beautiful brown eyes. They were really beautiful, fitting to the rest of her, he realized. She was actually a stunning young woman. He shook himself. He couldn't think of his best friend like that. He just couldn't. She was his BFFEWYLION, almost his sister. And he, well… he was gay.

Jinks took a deep breath in and spoke slowly, „ And what if I would go up there with you?".

Claudia shot him an irritated look, „ What do you mean?", she asked and quickly added, „Not that it wouldn't be a little bit better if it wasn't just me, but I didn't know you…" He nodded in understandment. He always understood her.

„I'm playing the guitar and sometimes I am even singing…. but to be honest, it's been quite a while…So I don't know. Maybe that was a stupid idea!", he shook his head and suddenly found an interest in his shoes. Then the ceiling. Claudia grinned.

„Well, since it seems we both have a bit of a problem with that kind of audience, I've got an idea: either we're both going, or none of us!", she said, thinking she found her way out of the deal. But it seemed her partner thought otherwise.

„Well, then let's go, Girl Wonder!", he said. She stared at her friend in shock. Now he was the one that grinned. „You didn't think I'd just let you win, did you?". Claudia just gulped. Her mouth opened, but she had no idea what to say. Steve took her wrist and leaded her to the table. The blonde smiled brightly. „Let me guess: A duett for our young love birds?"

Claudia was about to say no, when she heard Jinks talk, „Yeah, sure. She's just a bit shy, aren't you, darling?". She shot him a confused glare, then she cleared her throat and nodded. „My audience is usually a bit closer, but… I guess with him it will be fine.". Her hazel brown eyes then searched for his ice blue eyes. Steve gave her one of his always calming, warm smiles. She released a breath she didn't even realized she was holding.

„Allright. Then you just need to write your names into the list. We'll start soon.", the woman told them. Claudia hesitated a second. Then she remembered the false passport she carried with her since the day she used it at the Regent Sanctum. She took the pen and wrote ‚Donna LaDouciva'. This worked once already, why shouldn't it work twice. Besides, it's not like she didn't use other fake ID's before. Maybe she wouldn't even have to show it at all.

When she looked back at the list, Steve had written his false name in too. ‚Robert LaDouciva'. The redhead raised an eyebrow. „Oh, so you are freshly married then? Congrats!", the waitress said cheerfully. Before Claudia had the chance to say anything, her partner answered for both of them, „Yeah, actually, we're travelling a bit at the moment. All part of my treasures dream honey-moon.". Claudias eyes widened. His treasure? Their honey-moon? But when her ‚husband' shot her another bright smile, she also grinned. The senior agent had to admit that she kind of liked her, their, cover story. So she decided just to play along.

„Yeah, he is such a sweet heart! Caring about all of my worries and wishes! Couldn't ever wish for a better one". She shot her Jinksy a dreamy smile. He really was an undercover agent, a pretty good one. Not that she didn't already knew that. He happily looked down at his ‚wife' and took her small hand in his. Claudia thought about the other times when they had been holding hands like this. Or another way. Like on their first mission together at the hospital. Nice. Reassuring. Friendly. Siblinglike. Or like when he was dead. Sad. Cold. With something missing. Or like now. After she brought him back. Again it was nice. Reassuring. Friendly. Siblinglike. But now there was something else, she couldn't quite place it. She didn't knew if it was just her or if he felt it too. If he even noticed it. If he thought about it. If he would care about it. If he knew what she felt, noticed, thought and cared about. But most of all, if he even knew how much he meant to her. Damn it, she wasn't even sure if she knew that!

The redhead looked to the ground. She had to focus. She had to remind herself again that there were people dying out there and that it was her job to save them! It was their job. Claudia tightened her grip around Steves hand and let him bring her behind the stage.


	2. Chapter 2: Sing Me A Lovesong

Chapter 2: Sing Me A Lovesong

**A/N: KNOCK,KNOCK Okay, so chapter two got online a bit later than I had planned, but here it is. I still don't own Warehouse 13 and I also don't own the song I used. Thanks to KatReenaWH and B R Cary for helping me to pick it :-* I hope you like it. Feedback is always helpful. **

Claudia nervously looked around the backstage area. She saw a couple of instruments. She counted. Three guitars. A piano. A drum set. Four microphone stands. She checked the items, half searching for the artifact among them and half trying to calm herself down. She quickly ran her hands through her red hair and gripped her neck. She had done this a couple of times already. So she could do it again. Couldn't she? She couldn't. Why couldn't she?

Then another thought crossed her mind. She wouldn't just sing, she would sing with Steve! At the start she was just glad that she wouldn't have to go out there alone, but now it made her even more nervous. She knew by now that she always had a little crush on him. His bright smile. His ice blue eyes. The way he calmed her down. The way he reacted to her jokes, her success, her failure. But that had always been it. A crush. An unwanted crush. Because she knew he'd never think about her that way. Wait, how the hell did her thoughts go from being afraid to sing in public back to her stupid feelings for her best friend?

Lost in her thoughts she didn't realize that Steve was now standing right beside her. "So, what are we going to sing? Because to be honest, I'm not someone for The Runaways or something... listening maybe, but not performing. Any ideas?"

Freshly awoken out of her trance Claudia let her arms fall back to her sides. She stared at Steve in shock. "Dude! Didn't I tell you to stand louder? Maybe just a little noise or something? You're like a freaking cat! Just not as loud!", she barked, leaving her partner stunned. Seeing the concern in his pale eyes she quickly added, "No, no idea. Do they have something like a list with songs here?".

"No they don't. Claude are you really allright? You seem to be in a completely different world today. You are nervous and even kind of angry. Something is wrong. What is it Claudia?" Steve looked at her. When she looked away he placed a hand on her shoulder. The redhead shot a glance to his hand before her eyes landed back on his face. She could see the worry in his pale eyes. She was touched that Steve cared about her so much, but she couldn't just tell him that he himself was the main reason for her weird behavoir. So what? Should she just lie to him? He would notice. But even that was better than telling him the truth right now.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine. Just... didn't catch much sleep last night.". That wasn't even a total lie. She really hadn't gotten much rest lately. So maybe it could work...

"You're lying! That's not your main concern! Why do you think you can get away with lying to me Claudia? I'm worried. I want to help you!". She sighed. Of course she wasn't so lucky.

"Okay Jinksy. It's not all unicorns and rainbows at the moment. But can we please discuss this later? We have to focus on the case right now. It's not easy. But I'll live. Unlike the people who get involved with that crazy whatever we got sent here to get. Okay? A song. A song from what we both know the lyrics and how to play it...so a song we can play with the guitar. You know one?", she asked, still a bit nervous, but a bit more confident. But Steves next words screwed that up again.

"Well, we told them that we are married, right? So what about... well you know.". He cleared his throat. "You know Lifehouse, don't you? There's a song called You and Me. I can play it. And I know the lyrics. Livi loved this song...she taught me how to play the guitar.", he laughed, "God, you two have so much in common.". Steve smiled sadly.

Claudia couldn't help but smile along with him. They had both learned how to play from their older sisters. One more thing to add to the list of things THEY had in common. It actually hurt how long this list in the back of her mind had become.

"Yeah. I know it. It's a ... nice song.", she hesitaded. The redhead absolutly adored this song, but it was a lovesong after all. And the thought of singing a lovesong with her gay best friend whom she secretly had a major crush on didn't exactly calm her down.

"So you know how to play it?", Steve asked cautiously. He had to admit that it made him a bit nervous too.

"Yeah, I guess I do. I mean, I've played it before.", she stuttered slowly.

And again Steve sent her a reassuring smile, but this time she could see that he wasn't too confident either. "So, we've got a song then.", he grabbed one of the guitars and handed her another one.

She reached forward to grab it and immediatly regretted it, because just then the thought that their hands would touch if she did crossed her mind. And surprise, surprise, they did, before she could even think about pulling back. The young woman flinched. "Sorry.", she muttered, seeing how confused he was about her reaction, "I'm just still a bit jumpy because of this whole thing I guess.". She didn't even knew if she was talking about the performance in front of such a big audience or about the performance with Steve. Claudia just hoped that he wouldn't notice that.

Before he could even think of a response the blonde stepped beside them. "You're next. Ready to go rock this?", she asked cheerfully. They both nodded slowly, feigned smiles on both of their faces.

The curtain was still closed when they settled down on the barstools. Claudia crossed her legs and smiled in Steves direction. He looked up from his guitar to return his friends smile. A reassuring smile. But right now she wasn't sure if it was meant for her or for himself. Propably both. They both took a deep breath in when the curtain opened and revealed the audience to them, and them to the audience. Claudia felt her heart racing in her chest. It felt like an eternity, even if it was propably just a second, till she heard Steve playing the first notes of the song. Then she heard him sing.

_"What day is it? And in what month?_

_This clock never seemed so alive_

_I can't keep up and I can't back down_

_I've been losing so much time"_

Claudia shot him another smile before she began to sing with him. He really was a good singer.

_"'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you"_

Steve nodded to his partner and Claudia took over. By now they were both smiling brightly.

_"All of the things that I want to say just aren't coming out right_

_I'm tripping on words_

_You got my head spinning_

_I don't know where to go from here"_

When they began to sing the chorus together again, Claudia thought about how true the words she sang were.

_"'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you"_

It all felt as if they had done this a thousand times already when Claudia took over again.

_"Something about you now_

_I can't quite figure out"_

And as if they had trained it a million times, Steve automatically took over the next two lines, before they both sang the chorus in unision again.

_"Everything she does is beautiful_

_Everything she does is right"_

_"'Cause it's you and me and all of the people with nothing to do, nothing to lose_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_And me and all of the people with nothing to do and nothing to prove_

_And it's you and me and all of the people_

_And I don't know why I can't keep my eyes off of you_

_What day is it?_

_And in what month?_

_This clock never seemed so alive"_

After they finished the song Claudia came to her senses again and blushed. She heard the audience applaud, but her main focus was on her best friend again. He grinned even more brightly than usual. It made the redheads hearts skip a beat before she grinned just as happily. She did the performance after all. If there wasn't this twinge nagging at her heart, reminding her that Steve also just performed a song. That for him the words weren't as true as they were for her.


	3. Chapter 3: Another Whammy Another Worry

**A/N: KnockKnock. So, this one took me longer than I expected. It was hardest to write for me till here. I did some research and I hope it's all good this way. **

Back behind the stage Claudia and Steve set the guitars back to their places. They shot each other short glances, both of them still smiling brightly. It felt so harmonic. So relaxed. The moment felt perfect to her. So she made a quick decision, or she thought so.

'Now', Claudia thought,'If I don't talk to him now, I never will! He needs to know what I feel, even if he doesn't feel the same. It's not fair to lie to him. He would notice it anyway. But what if he wouldn't? What if it would make everything worse?'.

She knew he'd never want to hurt her. He would try to help her. But what would that mean for him? She couldn't do that to him. But she had to, right?

She cleared her throat. "Listen Steve...I...", suddenly the redhead stopped dead in her tracks. She felt a little dizzy. Okay, maybe more than just a little. She felt her heart racing again, but this time it was different.

"Steve?". She sounded so different now. Something was wrong. When Steve turned around to look at her he was shocked by the sight. His partner just stood there. He'd never seen her so pale. So exhausted. He walked back to her and carefully touched her arm. "Claude? What...what's happening? How are you?".

Claudia looked up to him. "I'm...I'm fine. Really. Just, did someone turn up the heater? I feel kinda...", her voice was weak, barely a whisper. She felt like crap, but she had worried Steve enough for today.

He carefully touched the young womans head. His eyes widened with even more worry. "Claudia, you're burning!". It had to be the artifact. What else could it be? But what was the artifact? The police had blamed it all on drugs in the other cases. But he saw similarities to now. High fever. Pale skin. And she was shaking violently now. His mind was racing with the same speed as her heart.

Claudia began to panic when she noticed that her vision began to flicker. She stumbled backwards and walked against a wall. Slowly she sat down on the floor and pulled her knees under her chin. She forced herself to look up and paniced even more when she saw everything twice. She tried to think. What did she touch? How had it started? How could she stop this? The questions in her head became more and more but she wasn't able to think clearly enough to answer a single one of them.

Steve was nearly as scared as her. He just stared down to the usually so strong redhead for a couple of seconds. When he came to his senses again he decided that he needed help. The agent quickly pulled his Farnsworth out of his jacket and called his boss. He picked up a few seconds later. "Artie, listen. We have a situation here and..."

"What is it? Please tell me you know more now than when you last called me.", Artie cut him off in his usual grumpy mood.

"Artie, it's Claudia. She...", Steve hesitated and looked back at his partner before he turned to the screen again. "I think she got whammied."

Now the older man looked just as worried as him. "Why? What happened? How is she?".

Steve took a deep breath and stuttered, "I don't know what exactly happened. We just came backstage again after our performance. Out there everything was fine. Now she..she has high fever. She is shaking. She...", the younger man turned his Farnsworth so Artie could see it himself. The old agent gulped and put his hand in front of if mouth. Then he clasped his hands behind his hand.

When Steve turned the communication device back around Artie was already furiously typing at the computer. "Shaking, fever, dizziness...anything else?".

Steve looked in Claudias direction again. "She's really pale." His voice was quiet now. Just minuits ago the world seemed so perfect and now everything went wrong. He tried to calm himself down. To remember that this wasn't the first time anything like this happened. That it always found a good end. It had to. He slowy took a step forward and carefully lowered himself down so he could look at his partners face.

The redhead looked at him. She was breathing heavy. "Heart. Racing. Sight. Flickering.", she gulped and touched her forehead.

He nodded and stroke a piece of her hair out of her face. "It will be allright. We'll find out what to do.". He didn't know whether he tried to help her or himself right now. He heard their boss talking about artfacts that could cause symtoms like hers in the background. But Steve was too focused on Claudia to actually listen to Artie.

The young woman looked so weak. Almost like...like Livi had looked when she had...Suddenly Steves eyes widened. He remembered that face. That haunted look. "Artie, diabetes." He simply said, a blank expression on his face.

"What? How did you get this idea?", Artie asked.

"My sister, Olivia, had diabetes. This reminds me of one of her attacks. It was rarely ever so bad, but...do you think it's possible? Is there an artifact that could do that?", his panicked eyes wandered back and forth between the Farnsworth and Claudia. Olivia didn't die because of her illness, but the first time it was a really close call. They had to bring her to the hospital. They were both very young back then. That was the day they found out about his sisters illness. And because nobody knew what was happening, they needed some time to figure out how to help her. He was so scared. But she always survived. And so would Claudia. He would make sure she would.

Artie was researching diabetes-connected artifacts in the music scene of Nashville. Both men stared at the different screens when the computer gave a loud noise.

"Cash.", the old man grumbled. In panic Steve was one step from asking Artie if he had caught some street slang wrong or if he was actually talking about money in a situation like this. Then it hit him.

"Wait, are you telling me that we are looking for a Johnny Cash artifact?", he asked. "Artie, Cash was a singer and a guitarist. We are at a music contest. This could take hours! Hours we might not have! Can't we just call an ambulance and let the doctors cure her the normal way?". Now Steve was angry. He didn't knew where to direct his anger, since he didn't know who caused all of this. But once he would find this guy...Jinks once again had to keep himself calm. It wouldn't help her if he freaked out like that.

"Steve, it's an artifact. The doctors wouldn't understand what's wrong. They would just ask questions. They can't help her now. But we can."

The younger agent nodded. "Okay, so what do we know?". While he talked to his boss he kept glancing over to the redhead. She was still shaking, but at least it didn't look like it had become any worse than before.

"Allright. Apperantly Cash was at the hospital multiple times because of illness or, so the rumors say, drugs and alcohol. But the reason for his death, at 2 a.m. on the 12th of september 2003, was a diabetes attack. Some people think it was caused through stress and through heartache, because a couple of months ago his beloved wife June had died. It was never really confirmed what happened and if it was partly caused by June's death, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't too unimportant either.".

Steve nodded at the information, his blue eyes half watching Claudia and half searching the room. Now he just needed to find something that belonged to a singer backstage at a music contest to save his partners life.

**A/N: They didn't exactly give us much input about Olivia so I thought something out myself. I have seen Allison playing a diabetes attack on One Tree Hill once, but I don't know how accurate I wrote it. All the infos about J. Cash are from my online research. Feedback is always helpful. - KTF CLM**


	4. Chapter 4: You'd Never Know

**A/N: KNOCK KNOCK, okay, I know this isn't the best I've ever written. But it already took me long enough to come back to this storyat all. The new chapter of TCD is kind of a struggle. Meanwhile the ideas for my newest story seem to be endless. **

**So while I'll keep writing for this, my main focus will probably be there.**

**As always, I hope you like it anyway. **

**KTF CLM **

Steve's pale blue eyes were searching through the room in panic. But his concentration kept leaving him. Wandering back to Claudia.

A pale, shaking Claudia. He hesitated. He knew he'd have to leave her side to look for the artifact, but he couldn't just leave her alone like this. Not now.

The redhead could barely recognize her partner sitting right in front of her. She hadn't caught much from his conversation with Artie. Just smaller pieces. He'd been talking about Livi. And Cash. And dia-something. She knew that his sister had diabetes, so she guessed that was what they were talking about. But that was all she could process.

But if they had a clue, what was he still doing here? Shouldn't he be snagging an artifact?

Was he still here to keep her company?

"Steve?"

"Listen Claude, I'm not gonna leave... "

"Go."

It was just a small word. She couldn't manage so much more. But it shocked them. Both.

Claudia didn't want to be alone now. But she tried to use what little parts of her brain were still active rationally. If he wouldn't leave, he wouldn't neutralize the artifact. If he wouldn't neutralize the artifact...

Neither of them was ready to follow this thought any further. Not until they absolutely and necessarily had to.

"Claudia, I can't just... "

"Go.", she repeated in a weak voice. "Please."

Steve nodded. He knew that she was right. But it didn't feel right. It felt wrong to leave her behind. But they both knew that he had go.

The man slowly stood up. He couldn't help but turn back to his partner one more time. And his eyes got stuck on her.

He hadn't just faced death several times, damn it! He had already been dead for a few days!

But this felt so much worse than dying. It was the fear to lose her. The fear that this time, she could be the one who died. And he wouldn't be able to bring her back.

"Go. Now."

He had to smile a little at her determination. Even now his senior agent was still giving him orders. That was a good sign. Definitely.

"I'll be back soon, Claude. Hold on."

He ran across the room. The only equipment that they had actually used, besides the guitars, was still on stage. Of course he had tried her guitar first. But it didn't give the slightest spark.

He ran to the reception and told the woman from earlier that they had to stop the contest now.

"I don't understand. Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong? Is something wrong? Listen up: my... wife is behind the stage and she's severely ill. And whatever caused this is still on your damn stage! So what do you think? Is something wrong?"

Right now he couldn't care less about his Feng Shui or his karma. Right now the only thing that mattered was Claudia.

"But that's impossible! There's nothing here that could make your wife ill. It's all clean, I swear!"

The blonde was half talking to him, half to the people behind him who seemed to find this conversation very interesting.

"Are you deaf or just dumb? I don't care about how this makes you look! All I care about is the fact that Claudia's dying back there!"

"Who's Claudia? I thought your wife's name was Donna."

"Really? Out of everything I told you that's what you heard?"

"I... I'm sorry but... "

"Oh, you will be! But how about you start using what little brain you've got and stop this before anyone else gets infected?"

The audience behind him was whispering. They were nervous. Then they started asking questions.

"Did he say infected? Is this place making us sick?"

"Oh my god! I was up there on stage just fifteen minutes ago!"

"Should I call an ambulance?"

"Maybe they'll have to lock us up in here. What if the decease is in the air?"

This wasn't what Steve had planned, but it emptied the floor and it scared the receptionist. So the effect was the one he wanted.

Meanwhile behind the stage Claudia had trouble to breath properly. She tried to focus her eyes on one single point, but her focus was fading more and more.

Suddenly she was doubting her decision to send Steve away. What if she'd die?

She would die alone. And Steve would blame himself. No, that couldn't happen!

That's when the realization sunk in.

She could die. And he'd never know.

He'd never know how he kept haunting her dreams. He'd never know how much she secretly admired his thoughtful attitude. He'd never know, what she just realized herself.

That she had fallen in love. She fell in love with Steve, and she fell deeper than ever before.

She had been too afraid to hit the ground. She couldn't even admit it to herself, not till right now.

Because it seemed the moment she truly realized that she needed him, was the moment she lost him back when he died for her.

And the moment she recognized her own true feelings for him, was the moment when she couldn't feel anything else anymore.

She felt her rational thinking fading. She felt her eyes falling shut. And then, she didn't feel anything.

Steve sprinted onto the stage and looked around. He bagged the microphone, nothing. He bagged the top of the microphone stand, nothing. The only things left ungooed on stage were the stools. But he couldn't just bag these.

Then he remembered the spray can of goo that Claudia had in her bag.

He ran backstage, secretly grateful for the opportunity to check on his partner.

But when he caught sight of her, all the color that was left on his face disappeared.

Claudia was lying on the floor, even paler than when he left her. But now she wasn't breathing heavily. She wasn't shaking.

No, even worse. The redhead wasn't moving at all.

For a moment he just stood there, frozen in shock.

He needed a few seconds to collect his thoughts. Once he could move again, he ran over to the woman on the ground. He placed one hand on her inner wrist and the other one on her forehead.

She still had high fever. It worried him, but at least she wasn't cold yet.

At the beginning he didn't feel anything on her wrist.

His heart skipped a beat, just when he felt that hers was still beating.

It was a weak pulse, but it was there. He let out a relieved breath and shoved a streak of fiery red hair out of her pale face.

He quickly ran over to her bag and snatched the spray can out.

"It'll be over soon, Claude. I promise."


End file.
